Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday for arraignment on alleged drug charges

Caracas, Venezuela – Ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will appear in Manhattan federal court on Monday to stand trial on a four-count indictment accusing him of leading a 25-year drug terrorism plot.

Hours after the audacious military operation that ousted Maduro from power and ousted him from the country, President Donald Trump said Saturday that the United States would at least temporarily run Venezuela and tap its vast oil reserves to sell to other countries.

The dramatic action capped the Trump administration’s intense pressure campaign on the South American nation and its authoritarian leader, and months of covert planning that led to the most assertive US action to achieve regime change since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Legal experts immediately raised questions about whether the operation was legal, and the Venezuelan vice president in a speech called on the United States to release Maduro and described him as the country’s legitimate leader.

Speaking to reporters hours after Maduro’s arrest, Trump revealed his plans to exploit the leadership vacuum to “reform” the country’s oil infrastructure and sell “large amounts” of oil to other countries.

Maduro and his wife, who were kidnapped overnight from their home on a military base, were initially transported aboard a US warship on their way to face trial on a Justice Department indictment accusing them of participating in a terrorism and drug conspiracy. A plane believed to be carrying the deposed leader landed in New York on Saturday evening.

A detained person was escorted off the plane and gingerly made his way down the stairs before being escorted across the runway surrounded by federal agents. Many customers showed up to film the person on their phones.

Photos obtained by ABC News show a handcuffed Maduro accompanied by DEA Director Terry Cole and other federal agents after landing in New York.

After arriving at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh, New York, Maduro was transported by helicopter to New York City and then to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

The legal authority for the incursion, which was conducted without congressional approval, was not immediately clear, but the Trump administration touted the overthrow as a step toward reducing the flow of dangerous drugs into the United States. The president touted what he saw as other potential benefits, including a leadership stake in the country and greater control of oil.

Trump claimed that the US government would help run the country, and has already done so, although there were no immediate signs of this. Venezuelan state television continued to broadcast pro-Maduro propaganda, broadcasting live images of his supporters taking to the streets in Caracas in protest.

“We will run the country until such time as we can make a safe, sound, and wise transition,” Trump said at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago where he boasted that this “highly successful operation should serve as a warning to anyone who might threaten American sovereignty or endanger American lives.”

Maduro and other Venezuelan officials were indicted in 2020 on “narcoterrorism” conspiracy charges, but the Justice Department issued a new indictment on Saturday for Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, that portrayed the regime as a “corrupt and illegitimate government” fueled by a drug trafficking operation that flooded the United States with cocaine. The US government does not recognize Maduro as the country’s leader.

Trump posted a photo on social media showing Maduro wearing a tracksuit and blindfolded aboard the USS Iwo Jima.

Early morning attack

The operation followed months-long efforts by the Trump administration to push back the Venezuelan leader, including a large buildup of US forces in waters off South America and attacks on boats in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean accused of carrying drugs. Last week, the CIA was behind a drone attack on a docking area believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels — the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since the United States began its strikes in September.

Maduro denounced the previous military operations as a veiled attempt to oust him from power.

Thirty-six years after the 1990 US invasion of Panama that led to the surrender and arrest of leader Manuel Antonio Noriega, the Venezuela operation unfolded under the cover of darkness early Saturday with Trump saying the US shut off “almost all the lights” in the capital, Caracas, as troops moved in to extract Maduro and his wife.

Gen. Dan Kean, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said U.S. forces had trained for their maneuvers for months and knew everything about Maduro — where he was and what he ate, as well as details about his pets and clothing.

“We think, we evolve, we practice, we practice, we debrief, we practice over and over again,” Keane said. “Not to get things right, but to make sure we can’t get them wrong.”

Early on Saturday, several explosions sounded and planes flew at low altitude in the capital, Caracas. Maduro’s government accused the United States of striking civilian and military facilities, calling it an “imperialist attack” and urging citizens to take to the streets.

The attack lasted less than 30 minutes, and the explosions – at least seven – sent people rushing into the streets, while others took to social media to report what they saw and heard. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said some Venezuelan civilians and military personnel had been killed, without giving a number. Trump said some US troops were injured but no one was killed.

Video obtained from Caracas and an unidentified coastal city showed trails and smoke hanging over the landscape while frequent silent explosions lit up the night sky. Other footage showed cars passing on a highway as explosions lit up the hills behind them. The authenticity of the videos was verified by The Associated Press.

Smoke was seen rising from the hangar of a military base in Caracas, while electricity was cut off at another military facility in the capital.

Under Venezuelan law, Rodriguez will take power from Maduro. But Rodriguez confirmed during her appearance on state television on Saturday that she does not plan to take power. It called for Maduro’s release and declared him president.

“There is only one president in Venezuela, and his name is Nicolas Maduro Moros,” she said.

Some streets in Caracas were full

Venezuela’s ruling party has been in power since 1999, when Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, took office, promising to uplift the poor and then implement a self-described socialist revolution.

Maduro took power when Chavez died in 2013. His re-election in 2018 was widely seen as a sham because the main opposition parties were barred from participating. During the 2024 elections, electoral authorities loyal to the ruling party declared him the winner hours after the polls closed, but the opposition gathered compelling evidence that he lost by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

In a demonstration of how polarizing Maduro’s personality is, people took to the streets in various forms to protest and celebrate his arrest.

At a protest in the Venezuelan capital, Caracas Mayor Carmen Melendez joined a crowd demanding Maduro’s return.

“Maduro, wait, the people are rising up!” The crowd cheered. “We’re here, Nicolas Maduro. If you can hear us, we’re here!”

Earlier, armed men and civilian militia members wearing uniforms took to the streets of a Caracas neighborhood, which has long been considered a stronghold of the ruling party.

In other parts of the city, streets remained empty hours after the attack. Some areas remained without electricity, but vehicles moved freely.

“How do I feel? Scared, like everyone else,” said Caracas resident Norris Prada, who was sitting on an empty street and looking at his phone. He added: “Venezuelans woke up terrified, and many families could not sleep.”

In Doral, Florida, home to the largest Venezuelan community in the United States, people wrapped themselves in Venezuelan flags, ate fried snacks and cheered as music played. At one point the demonstrators chanted “Freedom! Freedom! Freedom!”

Legal questions

Some legal experts raised immediate concerns about the legality of the operation.

The UN Security Council, acting on an emergency request from Colombia, plans to hold a meeting on US operations in Venezuela on Monday morning, according to a council diplomat, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a meeting that has not yet been announced.

Lawmakers from both political parties in Congress have raised reservations and outright objections to US attacks on suspected drug-trafficking boats near the Venezuelan coast. Congress has not specifically approved an authorization to use military force for such operations in the region.

Connecticut Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said he saw no evidence to justify Trump striking Venezuela without congressional approval and demanded an immediate briefing from the administration on “its plan to ensure stability in the region and its legal justification for this decision.”

Torobin and Tucker reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda in Caracas, Venezuela, Lisa Mascaro and Michelle L. Price, Seung-Min Kim, and Alana Durkin Richer in Washington, Farnoush Amiri in New York, and Larry Neumeister in South Amboy, New Jersey.

ABC News contributed to this report